Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Will The November US Presidential Election Bring The End Of The World? Paul Craig Roberts

Will The November US
Presidential Election Bring The End Of The World?

Paul Craig Roberts

“We have been watching for nearly a month a steady buildup
of American and NATO forces along Russia’s borders – on land,
on sea and in the air. There has been nothing like this
on Russia’s borders, such an amassing of hostile military force,
since the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.”

Escobar reports that recently the Rand Corporation, “essentially a CIA
outpost,” concluded that “Russia could overrun NATO in a mere 60 hours, if not
less.” On the level of nukes and missile systems, Russia is four generations
ahead of the US military/security complex, which is mainly interested in
inflating profits with cost overruns. US weapons systems are simply outclassed.

Nevertheless, the Russian high command is concerned with the Russian
government’s low-key response to Washington’s aggression. The generals blame
the “Atlanticists Integrationists” who infect Putin’s government. This faction
is believed to be organized around Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and believes
Russia should make concessions to Washington in order to be accepted as part of
the West. The incompetent Russian central bank and neoliberal economists are
part of the faction whose goal is to be part of the West regardless of its
impact on Russian independence from Washington’s Empire.

Stephen Cohen and Alastair Crooke, a former British secret agent,
almost alone in the West have noticed that the Russian military and predominate
part of the government that emphasizes national sovereignty are putting
pressure on President Putin to eliminate those in the government who are willing
to compromise Russia’s independence in order to gain acceptance by Washington.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/putin-west-war_b_9991162.html

This has been my own opinion for some time. It is impossible to
adequately stand up to an external threat when unreliable elements are part of
the threatened government.

If Putin is forced to remove Washington’s agents from his government,
as he must do if Russia is to survive Washington’s plots, he must not let them
leave Russia. If they escape, they will end up in Washington to be used as
Washington’s Russian government in exile. If Putin doesn’t want to put them on
trial for treason, then a form of national house arrest would be a solution.

Alastair Crooke writes that Washington is miscalulating by seeking
unipolar hegemony and, thus, is forcing Putin into the camp of the nationalists
who value Russia’s sovereignty more than Western acceptance. Washington’s use
of NATO in an effort to corner Russia with military buildups on Russia’s land
and sea borders is forcing compromise out of Russia’s response to Washington’s
aggression.

Regardless of Escobar’s description of Russian military superiority
over the West, Russian independence is between a rock and a hard place. The
rock is the American neoconservatives’ determination to achieve hegemony over
Russia. The hard place is those within the Russian government who are more
Western than Russian in their orientation.

If Trump becomes US president, there is some possibility, perhaps, that
the neoconservatives will cease to dominate US foreign and military policies.
Should this turn out to be the case, the Russian nationalists might ease their
pressure on Putin to remove the Atlanticist Integrationists from the
government.

If Hillary becomes US president, the neoconservative threat to Russia
will escalate. The Atlanticist Integrationists will be eliminated from the
Russian government, and Russia will move to full war standing.

Remember what an unprepared Russia did to the German Wehrmacht, at that
time the most powerful army ever assembled. Imagine what a prepared Russia
would do to the crazed Hillary and the incompetent neoconservatives.

As I have previously written, pushing Russia to war means the demise of
the US and Europe and, considering the destructive power of nuclear weapons,
most likely of all life on earth.

The main cause of this danger is the arrogance, hubris, and utter
stupidity of the American neoconservatives who are ensconced in positions of
power and influence and in Hillary’s presidential campaign.A secondary cause
is Europe’s vassal status, which deprives Europe of a sensible foreign policy
and forces Europe to enable Washington’s aggression.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books areThe Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West